Filardi writes about how he was in awe at spotting the bird after hearing its signature ‘kokoko-kiew’ call.

‘When I came upon the netted bird in the cool shadowy light of the forest I gasped aloud, “Oh my god, the kingfisher.” One of the most poorly known birds in the world was there, in front of me, like a creature of myth come to life. We now have the first photos ever taken of the bird, as well as the first definitive recordings of its unmistakable call,’ wrote Filardi in the post before killing the winged creature.

He killed it!!! So he could stuff it. This vandalism, this murder of a very rare bird screams for punishment. He is no scientist, he is like ISIS: a monster. There are already international calls to punish this murderer.

My beloved godmother lived in this huge mansion which you couldn’t see because it was totally concealed by many trees right smack dap in the center of Pasadena, just one block from my grandfather’s home. My whole family knows how to ‘talk to birds’ thanks to Josephine. I have never met a wild bird that I couldn’t talk to and have a full conversation. Owls or Chickadees, large and small, thanks to Josephine’s lessons, all can have entrancing conversations with us.

Josephine lived outdoors. Her mansion was filled with all sorts of amazing trophies and artifacts she and her husband collected across the planet over 100 years. It was a museum. And she didn’t live inside at all. Her bed was under this verandah and she ate outside with her birds. She would set tea cups and platters on this round table and then all the birds would flit down to her table and have tea with her and I got to do this, too.

This most amazing woman died in the 1960’s and Los Angeles celebrated her death by destroying her home and trees and killing everything and plowing down my grandfather’s home, too and all this to build parking lots and a highway onramp.

The vandal who killed the rare kingfisher claims that it isn’t ‘rare’ and he murdered it to ‘protect it’ which is insane. He even wrote, ‘Through a vision shared with my Solomon Island mentors, I focused keenly on sacred Uluna-Sutahuri lands and the Moustached Kingfisher I collected is a symbol of HOPE…not a record of loss’. Yes, this monster is a psychopath. The idea that killing this poor bird is going to be necessary to save the species is lunacy.

Simply observing how the bird lives, getting to know it better, learning its habits and needs requires a lot of time, patience and love. I love wild birds and have had some for pets over the course of my long life, all were rescues who needed to be cared for and all of them ended up flying free, of course, and I loved doing this all my long life, it is fun. And you get to know a lot about a bird if you are trying to rehab it.

Mr. Monster Bird Killer also goes on to tell more lies. He claims killing it will bring vital information for ‘plumage studies’. Um, he had a camera. Catch and release would have worked just fine. He also claims he did this to study how pollution is killing the birds. News flash: HE is killing the birds!!! Yes, he is also ‘pollution’ and should be cleaned up.

A fine example of ‘killing to save a bird’ is from the story of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Everyone wanted samples of this poor bird so there are carcasses all over the museums and store rooms at universities and this hunt for specimens killed all of them! They are now extinct. My godmother warned me about this sort of lunacy, she was quite angry about the Ivory Billed Woodpecker’s murder.

Here is a selection of her work:

She loved mockingbirds who lived with her at her mansion. Wonderful, playful creatures! I miss them all.

Excuse me, Elaine, with what you have related to us about this killing of this bird, let me ask you this– isn’t it simply a variation on the U.S. Military policy in Vietnam? As in, “We had to destroy the village in order to ‘save’ it” type thinking and philosophy? Well? Please answer me and thanks.

Reminds me of the Passenger Pigeon. Passenger Pigeons were, at one time the most numerous bird in North America. Probably the world. Flocks of Passenger Pigeons could darken the skies because of their size. Byt the 20th century, Passenger Pigeon sightings in the wild were getting increasingly rare. Then in 1910, some 10 year old in Ohio saw a Passenger Pigeon, but didn’t know what it was so he shot the bird dead. In the end, the last three Passenger Pigeons were kept in a zoo in Cincinnati, Ohio. Two males and one female. In 1912 the female Passenger Pigeon, named Martha, was the last Passenger Pigeon to die. Species extinct.

As for carrier pigeons, I read that their population only ‘exploded’ because native Americans had huge forests of nut trees. European diseases, and war, left this food supply for the next species in the food chain. It was not ‘natural’.